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What the Manitoba Bisons and Winnipeg Wesmen are about to get into is approximately the equivalent of a boxer preparing for a big fight by doing a pushup.

In fact, when the two university men’s basketball teams take on the NCAA Division 1 North Dakota State Bison this week, they will enter into the contests with very little in the way of preparation, still re-assembling from the off-season and going in with hours — not days or weeks — of practice under their collective belts.

Kirby Schepp’s Bisons will get the first crack at NDSU Thursday (7 p.m.) at the Investors Group Athletic Centre, a weighty challenge for a young Bisons team that had its first official practice on Wednesday night.

So when the dust settles on Thursday’s contest, Schepp will be more interested in what he sees from his own team than what he sees on the scoreboard.

“You evaluate how the off-season was for guys, what kind of fitness you’re in and maybe some newcomers and how they can fit,” said Schepp, whose summer was a busy one having coached Canada’s under-16 cadet team to a bronze medal at a FIBA Americas qualifier in June and a national all-star team at the Nike Global Challenge earlier this month. “We already have a bit of a game plan for what we’re going to do for this year. You’re not going to treat it like you would an in-season game, but it’s just a bit of a litmus test.”

Mike Raimbault’s Wesmen will have a couple more days to prepare for the Bison, hosting them at the Duckworth Centre on Saturday (7 p.m.). The second-year U of W head coach said NDSU isn’t his focal point.

“We’ve got a bunch of new guys and we’re just trying to get some general things in and get familiar with each other,” Raimbault said. “From my standpoint, we’re really just evaluating the group as a whole and every individual.”

The Wesmen went 6-17 a season ago, but closed the season winning three of their final four games and four of their final six. Junior forward Pawel Gacon, a St. Paul’s High School product, will take memories out of a chance to play a Division 1 team that made the NCAA tournament in 2009.

“It’s a big opportunity because we’re playing some of the best teams from the States,” said Gacon, who was a member of last year’s team that took on South Dakota State. “That’s awesome because you don’t really get a chance to do that stuff that often, so it’s like an honour playing better teams from the States.”

ACADEMIC ALL-CANADIANS

Twenty-four University of Winnipeg Wesmen were named academic all-Canadians for the 2010-11 season. In order to achieve academic all-Canadian status a student-athlete must finish the academic year with an average of 80% or better. Here’s a list of those who maintained that standing: